Sequentia - Voice of the Blood [Harmonia Mundi 05472 77346 2] {Germany 1995}

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Sequentia - Voice of the Blood [Harmonia Mundi 05472 77346 2] {Germany 1995}

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Sequentia - Hildegard von Bingen: Voice of the Blood
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 407 MB | MP3 CBR 320: 180 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info + Rev-Part
Label/Cat#: Harmonia Mundi 05472 77346 2 | Country/Year: Germany 1995
Genre: Classical | Style: Medieval, Sacred

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Sequentia - Voice of the Blood [Harmonia Mundi 05472 77346 2] {Germany 1995}

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Sequentia - Voice of the Blood [Harmonia Mundi 05472 77346 2] {Germany 1995}

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Sequentia - Voice of the Blood [Harmonia Mundi 05472 77346 2] {Germany 1995}

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VOICE OF THE BLOOD is so named because the texts of Hildegard of Bingen's songs performed here refer often to the spilled blood of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. Sequentia wonderfully presents Hildegard's monophonic "song cycle" here in the order she probably intended.
Ursula lived in the 4th Century, but at the time Hildegard lived (12th Century) her tale of divine virginity inspired renewed interest in her cult, mainly through the supposed discovery of her bones and the visions of her received by Elisabeth of Schönau.
Ursula was promised to a pagan English prince, but was saved from this marriage by an angelic order to make a pilgrimage to Rome. She was accompanied by 11 noblewomen (which over time was inflated to 11,000). On their way back her group was killed in Cologne by Attila the Hun (not historically viable, but such is folklore).
Hildegard, a highly spiritual woman who herself received divine messages (the last song on this release contains words she created to depict the indescribable things she saw and heard), obviously knew, loved and related to Ursula's story. Thanks, Sequentia, for bringing this savory piece of history to life! arkivmusic.com

Sequentia’s Hildegard von Bingen Project: Initially in collaboration with the West German Radio Cologne (WDR Köln) Sequentia made a series of recordings of the complete works of Germany’s most important medieval composer, the abbess and visionary Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179).

In celebration of the legend of the noble martyr, Saint Ursula, and her 11,000 virgin companions, who were murdered in Cologne by the barbarian soldiers when they refused to renounce their Christianity. The cult of this Virgin Martyr spread widely and was well-known to monastic women. Here, Sequentia’s ensemble of ten women’s voices, directed by Barbara Thornton, in joined by fiddler Elizabeth Gaver. This is the only Sequentia recording in which Benjamin Bagby did not participate. sequentia.org

Biography

by Timothy Dickey

An interest in Medieval music shared by two graduate students at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland was the foundation for one of the most successful and innovative early music performing ensembles of the twentieth century. Benjamin Bagby and Barbara Thornton met in 1974 and formed the ensemble Sequentia in 1977, naming the group after the sequence, a central poetic and musical form of the High Middle Ages. Sequentia has grown into a touring and recording phenomenon, with over 20 albums to date, films for both television and independent filmmakers, tours to six continents, and awards including the International CD Prize Frankfurt, the Deutsche Shallplattenpreis, the Edison Prize (Netherlands), a Disque D'or (France), a Grammy Awards nomination, and the Innsbruck Radio Prize. The versatile ensemble, initially based in Cologne, Germany, continues its established pattern of innovative research, creative programming, and sheer musical virtuosity, seeking to bring to life various musical traditions of tenth- to fourteenth century Europe. In 2002, the group re-located its base of operations to Paris.

The lineup of Sequentia changes according to the needs of each particular program. The core consisted of singer and harpist Benjamin Bagby, and singer Barbara Thornton until Thornton's untimely death in 1998; other core members have included medieval fiddlers Margriet Tindemans and Elizabeth Gaver, and singer Suzanne Norin. Groups of singers, most of them international soloists in their own right, comprise Vox Feminae and Sons of Thunder, the women's and men's ensembles of Sequentia. These two sub-groups meet intensively each year in Cologne and Boston, leading workshops and preparing for the current tour/recording project. Since their inception, Sequentia has incorporated instrumental performance, including a panoply of handcrafted replicas of stringed instruments appropriate to their repertoire.

Among the many musical repertoires brought to life by Sequentia is that of Hildegard of Bingen, who they have consistently featured. Along with Christopher Page's ensemble Gothic Voices, Sequentia can take credit for the resurgence of interest in Hildegard's music, beginning with their 1982 recording of her passionate morality play, the Ordo Virtutem. More recently, Sequentia produced a series of recordings encompassing Hildegard's complete works, culminating in a new production of Ordo Virtutem in 1998, the 900th anniversary of her birth. Other repertories in their catalog include the music of Philipe de Vitry, a series of Medieval Spanish music, and a reclamation of Medieval Nordic music, including the Icelandic Edda cycles and Benjamin Bagby's solo recitation of Beowulf, and The Rheingold Curse, based on the Icelandic Edda. A recurring motif is their focus on the oral tradition underlying the music they approach; this leads to a stress on texts, linguistics, original notation, and improvisation within understood guidelines.

Each project begins with thorough and often creative scholarship, covering all aspects of linguistics, notation, musical analysis, and performance practices. For example, the Edda project began with Bagby's intensive study of the medieval Icelandic texts as well as current methods of Icelandic folk epic recitation, and research by Gaver into the Hardinger-fiddle tradition. At all times, their goal has been to reach and deeply internalize a contemporary understanding of the modal character of the repertoire, seeing melodies more as constellations of orally-transmitted modal gestures than as linear events. This internalization informs Sequentia's vocal performance, and, more importantly, the character of their instrumental improvisations. The ensemble is known for its characteristic full-voiced, open-throated singing, with evocative shaping of the texts. allmusicguide